Out of Reach
by p0ck3tf0x
Summary: The two of them had grown up and around each other like entwining vines and Prussia could not tell where he ended and she began. He just knew that they belonged together. Hungary disagreed.


_Synopsis: The two of them had grown up and around each other like entwining vines and __Prussia__ could not tell where he ended and she began. He just knew that they belonged together. __Hungary__ disagreed._

_Hetalia does not belong to me. Neither do any of the countries mentioned. Get back to me after 'World Domination Phase 3' is complete._

**Out of Reach**

"O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou, Romeo?"

Her eyes snapped open and she sat up in bed. She glanced left, then right, and followed the sound of his voice to the open window. Her mouth dropped open at his sheer impertinence.

He should not be here.

And he should certainly not be shouting.

"I _said_, 'wherefore art thou'!"

Her husband shifted next to her and slipped further beneath the covers with a sigh of contentment. For someone who paid so much attention to the nuances of classical music, it seemed that he had no ear for the ramblings of a lunatic, and all the better for her. She would rather he not hear this. Hungary took a moment to admire him before scrambling out from the cascade of pillows, almost tumbling, and heading for the veranda.

She sealed the window shut behind her with gentle, muffled reverence before turning on the other nation.

"What are you doing here?" She hissed as she clutched the banister and leaned over to see Prussia. The wind ruffled her simple white nightgown and she shivered.

"Wooing you, of course!" His best 'whisper' was still too loud.

"You have the lines backwards! Idiot."

"Do I?" He furrowed his eyebrows and scanned the play clutched in his hands. "Oh… I thought something was off…"

He scratched the back of his head in embarrassment and she melted, just a bit. She had forgotten how sweet he could be when he did not mean to be. His brash, intrusive shouting was not sweet, no, but his embarrassment was charming. He always tried too hard.

He always had.

"Go away," she whispered down to him. He stepped closer to hear her.

"Come with me."

Hungary slouched forward in frustration. Her elbows settled on the banister and her bare feet folded under her nightgown for protection from the elements. She rested her head in the cradle of her arms and watched him.

He was quite handsome, dressed in dark colours with his hair slicked back, and she had to admit that she enjoyed the attention. Somewhat. She had enjoyed it more in the beginning. After three weeks, it was becoming bothersome.

"Gilbert, I'm married now."

"I know that." He said. "Come with me anyways."

Hungary glanced back towards the bedroom she now shared with a man she loved, truly loved. She had never had that with Prussia. She never would. Their love was different and she knew it but… He had not figured it out yet.

The two of them would never dance a waltz together or walk along the beach. He might swing her around to a lighthearted jig or they might run between the waves but it would never be romantic. They would never hold hands or kiss or make love.

The two of them had grown up and around each other like entwining vines and Prussia could not tell where he ended and she began. He just knew that they belonged together.

And it was true, after a fact, but not in the way he thought.

Prussia was her brother, her best friend, her first flirtation… But she was not in love with him the same way she was in love with Austria. She adored her husband. She would never do anything to cause him pain.

And leaving him would break his heart.

So here she was, caught between the two men she loved, and unable to give all of herself to either one of them.

"I can't," she sighed, turning back to Prussia. "I can't. You _must_ know that."

"Why not?"

"I just can't."

Prussia frowned at her and gestured to the manor with the hand still clutching the play.

"He'll never be able to make you happy, 'Lizzie."

She knew what he was getting at. The two of them had been having this argument for months, years, decades even. Prussia thought that she was too good for Austria. He thought that he would hurt her. Or change her.

"He might... He could."

"He'll suffocate you. When was the last time he _let_ you ride a horse? When was the last time he _allowed_ you to hold a weapon?" He pointed to her nightgown. "I had never even seen you in a skirt before you met him and now you wear them everyday. You sew. You play the harp. You almost never leave the house."

Her stomach turned over with each new point. None of these pastimes sounded like her but…

"I love him…"

"Is that enough?"

She thought about it. Was it enough? Could she change for Austria and, more important, should she? Was it worth it? If not, she knew that she could leave with Prussia right now. He would never smother her. He would never force her to wear something she did not like or do something she did not want to do.

She could leap into his waiting arms and she knew that he would catch her.

But…

She was not in love with him. Not like that.

"It is. Oh, Gilbert, can't you see? You would never make me happy either." Tears slipped down her cheeks as she said it.

"… Is that your answer? 'No'? 'No', after all this time?"

"No." She shook her head in a desperate attempt to make him understand and her chestnut hair spilt over the banister. He reached up towards her as if he might actually grasp her trailing tresses but she was out of reach and he knew it.

She had always been out of reach.

His face was carved in stone as he watched her and so she cried for the both of them. She cried for their beautiful past and their sordid present and, most of all, she cried for their future apart.

The moment lasted somewhere between a second and a lifetime and then she was left alone with her tears and the torn pages of Romeo and Juliet scattered across the lawn.

* * *

_For never was a story of more woe_

_Than this of Juliet and her Romeo_

* * *

**_Author's Notes:_**

_Uh… So, yes. This is my submission for the writing contest put forward by Fanime Sensei and the challenge this time was for PrussiaxHungary. I did not have as much trouble with this pairing as SwedenxFinland because I have a better grasp of the characters (or at least my interpretation of them) but I am not a fan of the pairing. That is to say, I love the characters and not the pairing, which is too bad because there is a lot of beautiful art for it. And it is not for the reasons you might suppose._

_I do not hate the pairing either. I have yet to find a pairing I hate in Hetalia but some of the ones I have a harder time swallowing are this one, AmericaxCanada, and RussiaxLithuania._

_The first piece I submitted for this contest was about the beginning of a relationship. The second one was about the middle of a relationship and the change therein. It only seemed fitting that this one be about the end of a relationship._

_**Please leave a review and feel free to offer opinions, advice, or criticism. All are welcome. You are free to leave an anonymous review, I do not mind, just please let me know what you think of this piece.**_


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